The Business Secretary faces the Business Select Committee for a second time,
on issues that have arisen following the flotation on the Stock Exchange.

The coalition has been accused of selling the Royal Mail too cheaply after shares soared by more than a third within minutes of the start of trading last month.

Facing questions from MPs over the privatisation of Royal Mail, Business Secretary Vince Cable says he "interrogated" the advisors on whether they got the price range right and that a higher price range would have put off "a significant number of the long term investors".

Royal Mail will reveal its first set of results as a listed company later, having returned to profit last year after four years of successive losses.

Mr Cable dismissed the early gains as "froth" and said the true value of the shares would not emerge for months.

Analysts at UBS believe tough comparisons, pricing increases and a slowdown in e-commerce growth will have taken its toll on the group's parcel arm in the half-year figures.

Despite this, they still expect Royal Mail to benefit from a strong Christmas and are pencilling in a further improvement in earnings over the full-year, albeit at a more modest rate after profits more than doubled in the year to March.